DEMI! (Battle Book)

Ch. 4 "LATE BIRDS GET THE WORM, TOO"

As morning fell, Jai looked up to the sky.

Jai: Gotta make it to the stop. It should be up & running by now.

Finding a nearby stream, he rinses the dried blood from the sleeping fairy and bandages her back. While doing so, he notices a familiar crest embed in her arm—"Dagda" —Surprised, Jai gave her a look over once more.

Jai: Sheesh, hell is a stuck-up fairy doing out here? The Dagda family is up there. Can't see why one of them' be stranded out this way.
Place full of shit that shouldn't be here. No wonder the Leiches hide out here. Unc will know how to get you back to where you from.

He nestles her securely back in his pocket and closes it. He bandages Syre and himself and once more heads to the transport stop.

Jai: Somethins' off. My vision is straight,  the rest of my body isn't in much pain minus injuries, but I still feel off. Slow and foggy. I'm also carrying twice the load though, who knew fairies were so heavy. Oh well, not like it'll matter soon.

As he walked he noticed the bushes around him shook themselves ever so often. It gave off a cloud of grey dust that floated then rose into the ambient air. Jai threw his head back and begin to laugh loudly.

Jai: Grey lotus?! I—mma fuckin dunce. Tsch!

Wrapping a cloth around his nose and mouth, he put on a set of circle brimmed glasses to make his way through the dust.

After about an hour of careful walking, Jai had doubled back past the cottage, and out of the Serene. Once he could see out into the clearing, he let out a sigh of relief.

The CHARIOT transport station sat right outside of the marketplace of the Serenity Exchange; a place where bounty hunters, merchants, collectors, and patrons shop and exchange high-end merchandise. Because it sits on the edge of the exotic Serene, it's home to many novelty traders and collectors of oddly valuable things.

Jai continues towards the road outside the clearing, as he approaches he catches a minor whiff of smoke.

Jai: Someone's cooking something GOOOOOD! The market must be hot this morning.

As he reaches the road, he comes to a halt. Surveying the landscape in front of him, he can finally see the open road towards the marketplace.

Jai: NO!

As Jai looks into the distance, a blazing fire rampages across the market side. The steeple of the CHARIOT transport station, which was once a towering beacon, was now laying on its side, snapped in half and crushed almost to rumble.

Jai pulls out a clear cube with an orb inside. He points the cube towards the marketplace. As he does, he examines the orb. It spins uncontrollably in every direction.

Jai: Ah. It's broken. The hell is going on here?! Regardless, I have to keep going. Can't sit out here to be run up on.

In the distance . . .

Three figures emerge from smoke and fire. They stood, in the eye of the chaotic marketplace as it blazed. 

Hunter 1: Well, so much for subtlety.

Hunter 2: Sorry, not every day we get to be off the leash on a job. Just making the best of it

Hunter 3:...I smell them. This way.

Hunter 2: What! We just came from that way?! There's nothing more over there to break!

Hunter3: (Ignoring Hunter 2) This way 

He begins toward the transport stop.

Hunter 1: You heard the man

Picking up their equipment, the two follow the larger hunter back towards the CHARIOT Station.
...............................................................................

As Jai reaches the transport stop outside of the station, he is astonished by what he sees.

Jai: It's completely wiped out, who'd be that reckless?

He lowers Syre into the shelter for the stop, then sets his eyes on the main hub. He walks closer to the station, past the fallen steeple to the glass building at the base of the beacon. The front entrance was destroyed. The grand doors that once stood proudly were nonexistent, without even a clear outline of the frame. Jai walks through the gaping entrance to find a deserted station. He studies the schedule posted overhead and realizes the last departed CHARIOT transport was 16 hours ago.

Jai: A line's been out for 16 hours and no ones been sent?

He searches the abandoned hub for clues and in his search, discovers a communications station. After initiating the system, he inputs a code then waits for a response.

Jai: Nothing, I can't even get a message out. What is this?

He begins to fumble with the comm system once more. Concerned with the task at hand, he begins to get lost in his work; unfocused on the three shadowy figures approaching the hub. Suddenly, he hears footsteps crunching over broken glass, accompanied by mumbled voices.

Hunter 2: See! Told ya. Nothing here. Everything is already busted up! By yours truly, not even a whiff of--

Hunter 3: Two targets...One here.

He points in the direction of the comm system.

Hunter 3: One there.

Pointing to the transport stop shack.

Jai: Shit!

Hunter 2: What? I don't smell anything, you must be broken. Hey O! Think we need to turn this one in for a new one.

Hunter 1 (Orion): Shut up. Both of you.

He walks towards where the other had pointed. Grabbing the counter in front of the comm system by its corner, he flips it sending the entire countertop to the adjacent wall.

Orion: Hmm?

He stares blankly behind the empty counter.

Orion: Hmph. Guess we'll go to the shack.

The three set their eyes in the direction of the transport stop and proceeded to walk out of the hub through the gaping entranceway they had created earlier.

Jai: Dammit

The tattered tradesman was now taking cover in what seemed to be a supply room. His futile attempts to control his breathing worsened as his anxiety continued to rise. As he ran through all of the scenarios of the predicament at hand, he watched his pursuers from the supply room as they stepped out of the station.

Jai: *Three of them. All wearing the same shall. Shit, they have rods, that's trouble. What's that insignia—CORE—definitely hunters. The hey finally showed. Guess late birds get the worm too.  The big one must be the Seeker. The other two though: the loud little one seems to be a hothead, with the calmer looking like the leader, he'll be a problem. Hard to believe They'd do all this for Sy in his current state. Guess those Leiches weren't kidding; the buyer was firm and coming to collect*

Jai continued to ponder, frustrated, he begins to tap his head on the closet wall. When his forehead touched the surface for the third and final time, he noticed a hollowness not felt among the surrounding area. With eyes fixed to the ground, he raises his head to examine the wall. It was covered with parchment about half his size with gold calligraphy. Simple instructions for the upkeep of the station-he had first thought. He ran the palms of his hands across the poster and noticed a slightly beveled edge forming a triangle. His crescent mooned eyes widened to full with raised brows. Ripping the parchment down, he greets his sight with a smirk.

Jai: I GOT IT!